Cloud Defense Usa, because Amazon, Google, Oracle and Ibm celebrate the stop at Microsoft
The Pentagon canceled the cloud contract awarded to Microsoft and then challenged by rival Amazon. Both tech giants will participate in the new billionaire race for US Defense cloud computing
Microsoft will not (for now) work on the Pentagon's cloud computing as part of the Jedi (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure) project.
Defense Department officials on Tuesday rescinded Microsoft's $ 10 billion maxi contract in 2019 by announcing that they would start over with a new project, the Wall Street Journal reported.
It sets the stage for a year-long initiative, mired in an Amazon.com litigation and a flurry of objections from Congress.
The decision will open the new cloud project, renamed Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability, to all qualified bidders, Pentagon officials said.
In addition to Microsoft and Amazon, Google , Oracle and IBM could also participate.
Microsoft's stock was down about 0.4% following the news while Amazon's stock was up 3.5%.
TERMINATION OF THE CONTRACT WITH MICROSOFT
In terminating the contract with Microsoft, Department of Defense officials focused largely on technical reasons, saying that advances in cloud computing and the changing needs of the Pentagon had made the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure scheme obsolete.
THE MOTIVATIONS OF THE PENTAGON
The Pentagon explained in a statement that this contract "no longer meets its needs", given "the evolution of needs" and "progress in the sector".
"The changing landscape is what has guided our thinking," said John Sherman, the Pentagon's interim chief information officer. "JEDI was the right approach at the time," he added, but as circumstances change, "we're in a different place."
THE NEW RACE FOR THE JOINT WARFIGHTER CLOUD CAPABILITY
The Pentagon then announced a new contract, called Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability, which will be awarded to more than one company.
Therefore no longer the formula foreseen in the Jedi contract of the only winner.
Bidders are expected to be identified by October, officials said, with the new contract expected to be awarded in the spring of 2022. The new contract will run for no more than five years, the Pentagon said. Its value was not determined immediately, although officials said it would be worth billions of dollars.
AMAZON ON THE RACE AGAIN
The department announced that it intends to ask Amazon and Microsoft to submit their respective proposals for the contract, adding that they are the only two cloud service providers that can meet the needs of the Defense. However, the Pentagon has announced that it will also evaluate other companies that eventually meet the required requirements.
ALL GRAINS ON JEDI
Already two months ago, the US media wrote that the Pentagon was considering closing the Jedi project for cloud computing, assigned to Microsoft, imagining a long battle in court with Amazon, which would block the project for a long period of time. .
Furthermore, many MEPs had criticized the assignment of the project to a single company, as it is now preferable, for various reasons, to assign such ambitious projects to several companies.
THE CAUSE BROUGHT BY AMAZON
The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure project was officially opened for bidding in July 2018. The tender quickly narrowed to four competitors: Amazon, given as a favorite, Microsoft, Oracle and IBM.
The $ 10 billion 10-year contract, which was supposed to create a Pentagon's unique cloud data management and services system, was awarded to Microsoft in 2019, against experts' predictions.
Amazon immediately sued, claiming that the decision-making process had been tainted with obvious "political influence" .
THE ROLE OF FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP
As Radiocor recalls, according to the e-commerce giant, then President Donald Trump would have put "inappropriate pressure" to prevent Amazon from obtaining the contract, with the aim of "damaging what he perceived as a political enemy, Jeff Bezos ”, owner of Amazon and the Washington Post , a newspaper against which Trump has repeatedly lashed out.
Last year, the Pentagon inspector general released a report that the contract award was not influenced by the White House. In April, a federal judge rejected the Pentagon's request to reject most of Amazon's claims. A few days later, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said the department would reevaluate the project "to determine the best way forward."
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/cloud-difesa-usa-perche-amazon-google-oracle-e-ibm-festeggiano-lo-stop-a-microsoft/ on Wed, 07 Jul 2021 09:13:12 +0000.